Supreme Court Rejects Utah Church-State Case

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request yesterday to revisit the constitutionality of religious symbols on government property.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request yesterday to revisit the constitutionality of religious symbols on government property.

At issue is whether a federal appeals court was correct in concluding that large crosses on public roads to honor fallen troopers violates the separation of church and state, reports the USA Today.

The Utah Legislature argued that white crosses are “widely accepted as a symbol of a death, and not a religious symbol, when placed along a highway” and passed a resolution that said so. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit ultimately sided with the atheists who sued, saying that the crosses, which were 12-feet tall and 6-feet wide, could convey to a “reasonable observer that the state of Utah is endorsing Christianity" because a passerby would most likely see the cross and the Utah Highway Patrol lettering -- and not the name of a trooper and the date of their death that is displayed on each cross.

The nation’s high court ruled on this issue in 2005, but the Utah Highway Patrol Association says it wasn’t clear enough in its explanation.